PROVOCATIONs : Library Leadership in the International Arena

1. PROVOCATIONs: Library Leadership in the International Arena Thursday May 22, 2014 NATO Libraries Stephen Abram, MLS

2. What leadership is needed? • Top down or bottom up? • Culture of experimentation and pilots? • Relationships? • Network effect? • Competencies and Skills? • Attitudes or Aptitudes? • What is the nature of ‘conversation’?

3. NATO is very complex and complicated • Secret and Public • Management and Implementer • Local and distant service populations – end users • Trans-national and global • Difficult barriers to success • You’re a rare instance of a multi-type system (that lacks a system basis) • Special Libraries (Government, Military, Policy, etc.) • Academic Libraries: College, University, Professional and continuing Education • School Libraries • Public Libraries • Infrastructure Librarians (IT, IS, Content, Intranet, etc.)

4. Partnerships and Collaboration • The only choice • Internal partnerships matter – don’t give power or seek power – act as a peer • Purchasing and developing products and services alone is the MOST expensive ways to achieve. It’s also the slowest. • ASK and No is not an answer, or at least a full answer.

5. The 8 Elements of a Well-launched Project • An Idea • Clarify the Situation • Convert the Idea to a Statement of Work • Clarify what the task is Not • State the Expected Results, key milestones and major deliverables • Select the People needed to complete the task • Allocate Resources to do the job well • Specify how Success will be measured, rewarded and sustained over time

7. Private Sector Competitive advantage is the ideal Innovation is key to long-term existence Focus on clients and marketshare Business strategies Responsibility to shareholders or owner/investors Increasing revenue Risk oriented Economic success is a prime personal motivator Competitors, partners and allies e-Business is the challenge Focus on “results” Public Sector Collaborative advantage is the ideal Good service is the key to long-term existence Focus on citizens and social contract Political agendas and government imperatives Responsibility to parliament and to citizens Wise use of tax dollars Risk averse Making a positive impact on society is a strong motivator Other departments, levels of government, unions e-Government is the challenge Focus on “process” Differences in the Private and Public Sector Approaches to Development

8. Stop the InsanityTech is a toolTech is an opportunityInnovation involves riskThe biggest risk is not taking any.

13. Stop Having and Engaging in BS Discussions • Libraries are more relevant than ever • We have no good reason to be on the defence • Reading is UP • E-Books aren’t replacing p-Books - the dynamic is a new hybrid marketplace • E-Books have benefits that p-Books don’t • Librarians are being hired and doing well • Change is our tradition • This new normal requires specialized professionals like us.

14. Comprehensive Digital Strategies: More than just Content!

15. Digital is more complicated than Print.

16. Biggest Issue: Getting Lost in the Reeds

17. Understand the difference between Search and Find Roy Tennant and I have been saying for years: “Users want to find not search”. Librarians enjoy the challenge of search and try to create mini-librarians. Information literacy is different than contextual information fluency. The user experience is mostly “elsewhere”. Learning, research and decision-making processes trump search.

18. Understand the difference between the roles of discovery services and native search Search & Find Integration of internal/external information Search is the identification of potential objects to read or view in either a known item retrieval scenario or – more importantly – an immersion environment where choices are made. Until recently, we handled immersion environments in the context of defined subsets of content (a single database or small group). Discovery services are one step before search – the identification and discovery of the resources (databases) that are worth searching.

19. And the Algorithm Understanding Failure The power of algorithm is in the target user needs, the institutional needs, and the behavioral history . . . Not the underlying content Are there any real national initiatives to understand and differentiate library end user behaviors from Google commercial constructs? (yes but …)

20. Get the naming and labeling right Vendors must develop unique names and brands for their services to meet positioning, marketing and sales needs to you. There is no need for you to fall in line and pass through these names – or worse try to train end users to know hundreds of them! Can anyone defend using these titles to be the single most important label for end users? MLA, Scopus, Compendex, ABI/Inform . . .? Honestly! The needs of trademark law don’t match the needs of users to identify resources.

21. Are you using numbers strategically? Statistics versus measurements Satisfaction and Impact Visual versus data Stories build on data springboards Are your numbers showing customer satisfaction or just activity? Do you trust your numbers (It’s easy to mess with an interface and increase hits or whatever statistics you’re using.) How can the vendor help your numbers issues and insights?

22. Until lions learn to write their own story, the story will always be from the perspective of the hunter not the hunted.

23. Library Advocacy: The Lion's Story • Are you framing your library's story well? • Are you sharing measurements about your impact, or still beating the drum of raw statistics that show funders where to cut? • Are you using great gift of social media to engage and get your message out. • Has your library's marketing and communication plan stepped up to the 21st Century? • Are we ready for advanced data mining of our websites, circulation and membership records? • Are you ready for the reach beyond outreach? • What are the skills and competencies that library teams need?

24. First . . . Let’s stop using the word advocacy Let’s discuss influence and being influential . . .

25. Second . . . Let’s start using verbs to describe ourselves in the context(s) of our members, audiences and communities.

28. Smelly Yellow Liquid ? Or Sex Appeal?

29. Third . . . Learn and use the language of benefits – not features, functions and processes.

30. Fourth . . . Let’s build on our legacy of trust and respect and our foundation of collections and places to shine

31. Foundations

32. House

33. Home

34. Fifth . . . Let’s emphasize the humans that make the magic happen . . . Library staff

35. Librarian and Staff Magic Should Not be Invisible

36. Grocery Stores

37. Cookbooks, Chefs . . .

38. Cookbooks, Chefs . . .

39. Meals

40. Sixth . . . Let’s focus on VALUE, IMPACT, and POSITIONING (VIP) What’s the music and magic you hear? Play? Do? RockStar Librarians

41. Are you locked into library financial mindsets?

42. What about value and impact?

43. Or shall we stick with this?

44. It’s the stories that happen inside your library that matter . . . Not just the ones you have on the shelves. Tell those stories Encourage the heart . . . Better yet . . . Collect the stories in your users’ voices

49. Sustaining Relevance Being Relevant Communicating VIP Real relationships Being a ‘real’ professional

50. Personal and Institutional Impact: Strategies and Tactics Let’s talk . . . Why is the staff invisible on your virtual presence?